If you take a dollar bill and crush it up in your hand, that act does not lessen the value of that dollar bill.  Even if you were to take that dollar bill and stomp on it and walk all over it, the value of the dollar bill does not change.  Life has a way of pressing us to the point that we are so crushed and beaten up that we are made to fill like we are not of any value to anyone.  Friends are plentiful when we are prospering, but unfortunately, they are hard to find when we are going through a crisis in our life that changes what we are able to do. The good news is that this is not true as far as our heavenly Father is concerned.  It doesn’t matter what our situation may be, God’s love for us will never change.  God never changes.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

If you think about Joseph’s story for a moment, it is hard to understand why his brothers sold him into slavery and he was taken from his home into a country where he had never been and was forced to become a servant whereas he once was a person who was served by others.  For 13 years he endured separation from his family and for a period of time, he was put in prison due to the lies told about him.  These events made no sense at all especially after he experienced God given dreams as a young man that one day everyone including his own family would bow down to him.  Joseph must have been confused since the events of his life took him down a path that seemed to be in the opposite direction than he had anticipated.  But once you remember how his life turned out, you realize that all of it had to happen in order for God’s plan for him to be fulfilled.  Rejection by his brothers, slavery and imprisonment all had to take place – it was all a part of the plan. How often do we find ourselves in situations that make no sense and we begin to doubt God’s plan for our lives.  Could it be that certain situations have to happen and we have to experience certain events so that it places us exactly where we need to be so that we are in the position we need to be in to move into our destiny?

You might be feeling that God has forgotten all about you or that He doesn’t really care about what you are going through.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  God loves you so much that He sacrificed His only Son so that you could have eternal life.  All things are working for your good because you love God, and you must hold onto the confession of your faith through it all.  The enemy of your soul, Satan, wants to steal, kill and destroy you, but the Son of God came to give you life and life more abundantly.  God has showed us through the story of Joseph that we must go through a process to inherit His promises.  Your problems are to make you stronger; they are to deepen the level of your faith to the point that you are totally surrendered and committed to God.  Your faith and trust in God must remain unmoveable and undeniable.  You must know who you are in Christ even if everything else has been stripped away from you.  You must believe in your heart that you are precious to God and He will do whatever it takes to complete His work in you.

God has not forgotten about you and He never will.  From your mouth speak words of faith over yourself; encourage yourself and accept that whatever God allows you to experience will bring life and not death.  Your identity is in Jesus Christ and you will never lose your value – never!

In the news today we can find several stories about the wars going on in other nations.  The nation of Israel is fighting a war with the rebels in Gaza.  The nation of Ukraine is fighting pro-Russian rebels.  Afghanistan and Iraq are figting civil wars just to name a few.  The war that I want to call attention to today is the battle going on in the minds of many Christians.  This battle is between faith and doubt, and the side that wins will be the side that is fed the most.

At times, the challenges of life can cause even the strongest Believer to stop for a moment and question whether or not God will answer their prayers.  This opens the door for the enemy to feed on this negatism and he will then flood your mind with all kinds of thoughts that can lead to loss of hope.  That is Satan’s goal – to aggravate the Believer to the point that they lose hope in God.  Losing hope in other people is one thing, but to lose hope in God is fatal.  Pain can drive a person to the end of their rope, be it physical, mental or spiritual, but once you are traveling down this road, you are certain that God doesn’t care about you or what you are going through.  Being in this position is sad and the only way out is to reach out to another fellow brother or sister in the Lord who will lead you back to your heavenly Father.

A mind that is certain; a mind that is sure; a mind that is confident and full of faith puts the troubles of this world and particularly those in your life in the right perspective.  Faith gives the Believers options that cannot be seen by someone whose mind is full of doubt.  Faith drives you to God instead of away from God.  Faith causes you to remember the goodness of God and how God has been faithful to you in the past.  Faith causes you to experience the presence of God and embrace His love and positions you for healing.  Faith gives you hope and propels you to open the Word of God and find the answers you are seeking.

The spirit of God changes night into day; it turns mourning into dancing and it restores peace where there was chaos and confusion.  Just as night and day cannot exist in the same place at the same time, faith and doubt cannot co-exist.  You must choose one and turn away from the other but it has to be settled in your mind first.  Your mind is the key because your mind will direct your next step whether good or bad.  Your mind will either hold you steady and allow God to perfect those things that concern you or your mind will cause you to become anxious, fearful and doubt who God is.

Let me ask you a question. What’s on your mind today?

Scripture tells us that there were many places that Jesus Christ would not perform miracles because of unbelief.  When He went to Jairus house to heal his daughter, the people were grieving for her even though Jesus told them that she was not dead but only sleeping.  They laughed at Him, so He put them out and took only her parents and His disciples with Him when He went into her room and touched her and she was healed.  In the city of Bethsaida, Jesus remarked that if He had done what He did in any other city, the people there would have immediately repented, but in Bethsaida the people were untouched.  Unbelief puts up a wall that prevents Jesus from doing what He loves to do and that is heal and restore people to wholeness and salvation.

Without faith it is impossible to please God and that is why Christians need to check theirselves to determine where their level of faith is.  If you are asking God to do a miracle in your life, be sure you have no doubt of His ability to do that very thing, and it is important that you surround yourselves with people of like faith.  Do not let the lack of faith of another individual cause your faith to decrease.  If you need to separate yourself from people, do not hesitate to do so – your miracle depends upon it!

God wants us to encourage each other at all times.  If you get to a state that you can’t pray or don’t know what to pray for, reach out to a brother or sister in the faith and allow them to minister to you.  We all will have challenges come our way in one form or another and that is when a fellow believer can speak into your life and help you get through your storm.  The Bible tells us that the just shall live by faith.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17).  Christians must walk by faith and not by sight if they are to be an overcomer.  Because of Jesus Christ, we will have the victory if we keep the faith.

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  Fight the good fight of faith daily and when you see your Lord and Savior face to face, may you hear the words “well done thy good and faithful servant.”

The Bible tells us that with God all things are possible.  Yet, many Christians have yet to get that down deep in their hearts.  It’s easy to assume that if it looks impossible, then nothing can change that.  However, once you add God into the mix of that impossible situation, everything changes.  What is impossible with man is possible with God.

Impossible situations are divine opportunities.  When your abilities end, that is when you must ask your heavenly Father for help and you will see Him prove His faithfulness to you as He has done for so many others.  Your responsibility is to believe, trust and obey and then leave the details up to God.  God will perfect everything that concerns you but if you do not have the faith then you have lost out on seeing a miracle take place.  God created this world out of nothing by just speaking into the darkness.  God divided the Red Sea so that Moses and the children of Israel could walk across it on dry ground. Jesus Christ fed 5,000 with just two fish and five loaves of bread.  Jesus called Lazarus to come out of the tomb and he came forth still wrapped in his burial clothes.  The Lord rose on the third day after his crucifixion.

Job told God “I know that you can do everything.”  It’s important that you believe that as well.  Get rid of the “I can’t” or “it’s not possible” mentality and embrace the “all things are possible” belief system.  The bottom line is based on your level of faith.  Jesus told us that is we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can say to a moutain ‘move’ and it will move.  Mustard seed size faith is not very much but if that is all it takes to move a mountain in your life, imagine how far mature faith will take you.

Turn over the impossible situation you are facing in your life to God and in faith speak to that mountain to move and watch how God will interrupt, invade, or turn everything around for you.  It might look impossible but it really isn’t – not from God’s point of view!